Feeding the birds; which usually involves throwing chunks of bread or other human food scraps at flocks of geese and ducks, is actually causing many of these creatures to develop severe wing deformities, a fact that was recently corroborated in a study conducted by the city of Sacramento.

"Feeding bread, seed, crackers, chips, popcorn or even bird seed to ducks is the equivalent of feeding your child nothing but candy," explains the official website of North Richland Hills, Texas, about ducks and the environment. "Ducks like the bread or other food, and will clamor for it much like a child will ask for candy. But the human food has no nutritional value for waterfowl; it fills their stomachs up so that they do not eat the foods they need in order to remain healthy."